There is trouble in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over this region for more than thirty years. On Tuesday, violence flared up for the umpteenth time. An overview of the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies almost entirely within the borders of Azerbaijan. In the south there is a small land bridge with Armenia.
Although the mountainous area is officially part of Azerbaijan, the population is largely ethnic Armenian. An estimated 120,000 people live in Nagorno-Karabakh, an area about the size of the province of South Holland.
The location of the region makes a solution to the conflict very complicated.
The current conflict begins in the waning days of the Soviet Union. Countries such as Armenia and Azerbaijan are still part of that union.
At the end of the 1980s, the ethnic Armenian population wanted Nagorno-Karabakh to become part of Armenia. Arguments about this with Azerbaijan led to war after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was only three years later that an armistice was reached.
The fact that there has been no more war in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994 does not mean that the violence has stopped. There are small conflicts again and again and in September 2020 a real war breaks out again. The images below are from that conflict.
Large parts of the region come under Azerbaijan’s control. After 44 days, the countries sign a ceasefire.
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After the new war, the warring parties are at each other’s throats. In some places there is only 30 meters between the military positions of Azerbaijan and the Armenian separatists. In 2022 and again in September, heavy fighting breaks out again, with dozens of deaths on both sides.
Since December 2022, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have been at loggerheads over the Lachin Corridor. This mountain pass between Armenia and Azerbaijan is an important supply route for Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ethnic Armenian population accuses Azerbaijan of blocking that route. There are shortages of food and medicines in the region.
From Lachincorridor.Photo: ANP Graphics
Last Tuesday, Azerbaijan took the offensive again. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense describes the action as a “local anti-terrorism operation”. According to the ministry, Azerbaijan is responding to “large-scale provocations” by Armenian troops and “illegal fighters”.
The fact that the conflict erupted for the third time in a row in September seems to be purely coincidental for the time being. In any case, the parties will reach another ceasefire earlier on Wednesday, as they have done so often.
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2023-09-20 17:08:00
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